USPS Issues

[SoCalDep]

Anyone else having significant USPS issues?

We live in a normal city in Tennessee.

We had a great guy delivering our mail until earlier this year. We live on a bit of a hill and it’s certainly not the easiest route with all the walking they do. After many years his feet had had it and he switched to an easier route. Since then the Post Office has simply not filled the position since it’s “hard” and they’re having a difficult time retaining people. They are super low staff and using people on almost unlimited overtime to make up the difference, and I know similar staffing issues were happening in the last year at our old place across the country.

In the past three weeks it’s become really bad. We’re lucky to get mail once a week, and this week haven’t received what informed delivery said we should have since Friday of last week, including some fairly time sensitive stuff. We complained and were told we were supposed to get mail on Tuesday (nope) and assured we’d get mail today (Thursday). Well… that didn’t happen.

Our neighbors haven’t received mail either and my daughter heard her teacher complaining about not receiving mail.

Just wondering if this is a local thing or if it’s getting bad everywhere?

[SecondsCount]

We have a good mail lady but 99% of what I get these days is junk, and the 1% isn't all that urgent.

[Artemas2]

I know a few people in different small local offices and the story is pretty much the same at each place.
Too much work and not enough people to do the job. UPS and FEDEX also tend to dump any overfill on the local USPS offices especially during the holidays.

Our regular delivery lady of 10 years moved last winter. At first it was pretty ugly, delivery wasn't until after 5PM on some days with frequent "out for delivery" stuff not appearing until a few days later. We are on one of the longer routes and the issue was largely resolved when they split the route with 3 people.

My co-worker was also informed that he would not be receiving mail any more because his road was "too dangerous". It's a quarter mile long dead end dirt road with a pot hole

[fatdog]

I am fortunate to have a great rural mail contract carrier and so it has been for decades, her predecessor was great. But a friend two roads over about 3 miles away on a different route has had experiences more like yours and he finally gave up and just got a P.O. box and gets it himself every day or so. He told me it was poor before, but since the beginning of the pandemic it has truly sucked and no carrier stays more than 6 months.

[feudist]

I would have thought that horseless carriages had penetrated the furthest hollers of Tennessee by now. We've had them in Alabama for several years.

[TGS]

Just wondering if this is a local thing or if it’s getting bad everywhere?

USPS has been having a nationwide service and reputation issue for years now.

[AMC]

We're still getting mail daily....but no longer have a 'regular' mail carrier. We have one guy who comes more often than the others, but it rotates between numerous carriers. Time of day is totally inconsistent. Sometimes it's 7:30 AM, sometimes 8:30PM....or any time in between.

The biggest 'issue' I've noticed over the last 18 months or so is carriers not wearing anything resembling a uniform at times. Just the mail satchel, a t-shirt or jacket....no emblems at all. He'll, not even a visible logo on the bag. The dog was introduced to our old, regular mail carriers as a puppy, and got to know them and the uniform. She is very suspicious of these non uniform dudes.

[BillSWPA]

My local post office and my mail carriers are great, dependable people.

Sometimes, however, packages or certified letters are delivered by other carriers. My office is in a building with an exterior door which is normally locked. The regular mail carriers have a key, but I do not know about the others. I sometimes find a note on the door saying no one was there when I had been sitting in my office when the delivery attempt was made. Calling the phone number on my sign would have brought me to the door.

The most certain way to ensure that I do not receive something in a timely manner is to send it signature required or certified.

[1911Nut]

I'm thinking, and might eventually come up with a better example of poor service than the USPS here in my neighborhood in AZ, but I doubt it.

Nothing in their system works. Lost mail is almost as common as delivered mail.

Mail in my mail box addressed to other addressees. My mail in other people's mail boxes.

Ten day delivery for special delivery that is "supposed" to take two days.

Notices in my mail box advising that the carrier allegedly attempted to deliver a special delivery to my home, but that there was nobody home (when in fact we were home on those days, and nobody attempted to deliver a package to us).

Snail pace service when we go to the local post office to pick up the mail they are holding because we allegedly were not home when they "attempted" to deliver to us. Same when attempting to mail a package. I have personally witnessed 10+ customers standing in line while being waited on by three clerks. As if some silent signal is sent, two of the three clerks simply disappear and walk in the back out of sight (coffee break? lunch? who knows?). And they never return, at least not while I am still in the post office. This is common, not unusual.

Trying to recover your loss when the USPS loses something you mailed (insured) is almost impossible and they almost always have a reason they cannot honor your claim. I sold $150 of reloading dies to a person out of state and mailed them via USPS Priority mail with $200 insurance on them. They were lost in the mail before they ever got out of Phoenix (where they were mailed). My claim for reimbursement was declined once and resubmitted with receipts, photos, etc. The claim is still being assessed. It has been 10 1/2 months since they admitted they lost my goods.

I have absolutely stopped using the USPS, except when there are zero other alternatives. Third world service at its best.

[CSW]

We're rural:

Not 'down yonder in the holler' rural, but rural.

My post office won't deliver to me. Period.
I have a PO box at the post office, that they wanted to CHARGE me to use.

Had to contact the postmaster, where then my post office declared my address a non-deliverable address. Then I get my post office box for free, or until they deliver to me.